The past decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. The effect has, in turn, driven technologies that have been known and available but relatively quiescent over the years. A major one of these technologies is the Internet or Web related distribution of documents, media and programs. The convergence of the electronic entertainment and consumer industries with data processing exponentially accelerated the demand for wide ranging communication distribution channels, and the Web or Internet, which had quietly existed for over a generation as a loose academic and government data distribution facility, reached “critical mass” and commenced a period of phenomenal expansion. With this expansion, businesses and consumers have direct access to all matter of documents, media and computer programs.
In addition, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which had been the documentation language of the Internet or Web for years, offered direct links between pages and other documentation on the Web and a variety of related data sources that were at first text and images, e.g. both JPEG and MPEG, and then evolved into media, i.e. “hypermedia”. Web documents may also include applets and other programming routines. (The term Web documents as used herein is meant to include all such data documents). This even further exploded the use of the Internet or Web.
A major problem encountered by all Web users and hosts of Web documents source sites is the amount of wasted time that the user spends in misdirection, or in waiting that the user often encounters in trying to get to an appropriate Web site or Web document. This is especially true in the case of electronic business conducted via the Web wherein the owners or hosts of the Web source sites provide the Web documents. These hosts or owners offering products or services are, of course, interested in completing business transactions as soon as possible so as to maximize their revenue and business throughout. Thus, it is clearly in the interest of all businesses and organizations that host Web source sites to have their customers and clients reach their intended destinations on the Web pages suitable to their business as soon as possible.
However, in addition to purchasers and customers, there are consumers and others who may not have an immediate business need for products and services but who are nonetheless of interest to the business organization. Such clientele may wish general information about the business organization that could engender goodwill and even future revenue. Lastly, there may be a great many users just browsing around the Web without real business interest. Unfortunately, the current state of the Web document distribution art does not offer the host creating the Web any device through which the real revenue producing business customers may have a quick path to Web documents satisfying their needs. It appears that casual browsing requests compete on an equal footing with solid business product purchase requests insofar as Web page access and transmission resources are concerned. During high volume traffic on the Web and to Web source sites, activity by casual browsers may significantly slow down real revenue producing business requests, even to the point that the purchaser interest is lost and he goes elsewhere.